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I am sharing two very different books today, which I can only tenuously connect thanks to the Alex Awards. (Thus the completely unimaginative title of this post!) Let’s begin on a light-hearted note. First, a review of Raiders!, which won a place on the Booklist Editors Choice: Adult Books for Young Adults, 2012. Our reviewer [...]

Librarians who serve children in predominantly Latino communities were shocked this past December to read a New York Times article claiming that there is a dearth of Latino characters in books written for young readers—a notion that is at odds with their own experiences. In fact, they tell School Library Journal, there is actually a wealth of resources currently available to these kids, and librarians have the power (and the responsibility) to make those meaningful connections.

Back in December, I wrote a post in which I wondered why we don’t see more nonfiction books recognized in awards for teens, and in particular, why memoirs and biographies are so dominant among the nonfiction titles that do show up. Commenter Meghan suggested: My own experience as a public librarian has shown it’s easier [...]

With the announcement of the Caldecott winners less than a week away, Junior Library Guild examines some of 2012's front-runner picture books.

MARK:  Back before the 2011 Alex Awards were announced, Angela said she “would never presume to predict the Alex winners”, but this year I’ve convinced her to help me go ahead and presume away. So today we offer our combined random guesses, er . . . informed predictions as to what might make the 2013 [...]

from regular AB4T graphic novel guest blogger, Francisca Goldsmith: Cortés gained popular stature last year with his sweetly counterpoint art in satiric Go the F**k to Sleep. That’s part of his genius: giving the eye important information barely hinted at in the text. In “The Secret History” series, of which this exploration of Coffee, Coca, and [...]

That’s the first thing you do when you finish reading a book? Pass it along to a friend? Return it to the library? Place it on the unruly pile of titles that you charitably call your “office”? Scores of dedicated readers log on to Goodreads and share their opinions with the world. Imagine Facebook and your [...]

Our teen reviewers from Bookmarked are back up to speed and full of opinions on new and upcoming titles, including a mystery, a dystopian fairy tale, historical fantasy fiction, and yes, an apocalyptic tale involving a virus. If your library has fans of fairy tale retellings, stay tuned for next month's Media Mania column, which will feature a fine list of titles which are sure to satisfy their fancy.

Although I didn’t come up with this column's name—YA Underground—I'm appreciating it more and more. The kids I serve are living underground both metaphorically and literally. My library is in a 350-bed lockdown facility Amy Cheney juvenile cellthat serves adolescents ages 11 to 19, and it's in one of three rooms with windows. I have the only room with windows that are at eye level. The sunlight streams in and looking out, you can see trees, grass, clouds, sky, and sunsets beyond the barbwire. When Jonas (not his real name), an avid manga fan, was in the library on his every-other-week visit, I heard him describe the library as “a lonely bright spot.” He was talking about books—but aren’t books windows?